They Grow Up so Fast
by Novalia1001
Summary: Train froze. "Tearju...?" he asked carefully, though he knew-definately knew-this was not Tearju Lunatique. "...Eve?"
1. A little above five feet

Chapter One: A little above five feet

The park was a spot of serenity in the midst of the urban cacophony Eve had come to abhor. Seated on a wooden bench painted in a worn red, her pink hued eyes looked down at the small screen of her cell phone, and she gave no hint of expression as her fingers speedily dialed, "L.O.L,".

In no more than three weeks of gaining her new cell phone she had become a veteran, and was frequently texting sources of information both familiar and otherwise worldwide. She brushed several strands of yellow hair behind her hair, locks hardly grazing her shoulders by now.

She glanced up upon hearing two familiar voices.

"…in the bars are all useless! Idiots! And who in their right mind serves that sort of beer anyway? Distasteful!"

Sven patiently lit his cigarette. "And what would you know about alcoholics anyway, Train? You don't drink."

Train nodded, his spiky brown hair bobbing enthusiastically. It was due for a cut. "I know that, I know that," he muttered, hands in his pockets and feeling the weight of _Hades _on his side. "But there's more to a good spirit than just taste, Sven. Smell, smell is where you get the true worth of what you're drinking."

Sven risked a side-glance at him. "Must you say everything twice?"

"It adds to emphasis," Eve answered for him, getting to her feet and walking up to them, eyes still on her cell phone screen. "I'm not surprised that you didn't find anything about our latest bounty," she continued in her usual matter-of-fact tone. "Apparently he was captured a few days ago by a pair of sweepers outside of Vello City."

Train seemed to be deep in thought, and just as Sven and Eve predicted that he would say something useful, he blurted out: "Yeah, Vello City is well known for its grilled meat. They use the right amount of spices and sweet sauces to get your mouth going in a fiesta!"

"Stop talking," the other two snapped at him in unison. He flinched, feigning hurt.

Sven sighed and fell on the bench where Eve was originally seated and blew out a fume of smoke. "All this chase for nothing is beginning to get my goat," he muttered.

Eve blinked impassively before whispering to Train, "Sven has a goat?"

Smiling cattishly, he merely shrugged.

"If we don't get a good target soon, I'm going to lose myself."

Once again, Eve turned to Train, "How can you lose yourself if you will always be with yourself?"

Train swallowed his laughter, "It's not quite like that, Princess."

"I'm sick of this rat race." Sven finished.

"We've been racing with rats?" Eve inquired to Train.

He covered his mouth, restraining his display of amusement. "You've…got it all wrong…hime-chan," he managed.

"What are you to grumbling about over there?" Sven asked them, frowning suspiciously.

"Yeash, Sven-daddy what could we possibly be talking about to make you give us that expression?" Train grinned teasingly.

Sven raised an eyebrow, as though considering the topics of conversation.

"Sven, I think I found a lead," Eve said, walking up to him and displaying the web page she opened.

He stared. "How did you figure out to use the wireless internet connection so quickly?"

"Huh?" Eve blinked, "there was an icon in the menu. I assumed that was the world wide web."

"Don't worry about it, Eve," Train rubbed her bangs from behind. "Old man Sven is just a few generations behind."

"I'm only six years your senior!" Sven blurted, "And you'd better show some respect!" He eyed them viciously.

"See?" Train taunted, nudging the uninterested Eve, "every irritated old man that you'd ever meet with a thorn in his side would say that."

"I swear, Train," Sven growled, "one of these days I'm going to get a nickname for you so frustrating that you'll become an old man yourself."

Train stuck out his tongue, "I doubt it." He jeered.

"Back to important topics," Eve interrupted, "this man is wanted for arson, treason, homicide and stealing from a politician's house."

"What did he steal?" Train asked curiously, leaning over her to peer at the tiny screen that showed a small green sculpture of a fat man in revealing robes.

"A statue…of a Buddha," Eve grumbled, obviously disappointed.

"You'd think he'd go for something more elaborate, huh?"

"Well, it doesn't matter," Sven jumped in, stretching. "He's worth good money, so we're going to catch him."

"Hey, Sven," Train called, grinning cattishly again.

Reluctantly, the smoking sweeper turned to him with a twitching eyebrow in the middle of a stretch to his left. "What is it, Train?"

"Be careful you pull something."

"THAT'S IT!" Sven pelted after the sprinting Train, and Eve casually followed, eyes glued to the screen and impassively typing another "L.O.L." to Kyoko.

**Some of you might say that it was too short. Some of my other readers might have said that I should be devoting my time to the Soul Eater fan fiction about Death the Kidd that I started. Well, my creative juices need to hit the currents for that idea, so I'm watching westerns like mad, don't worry. **

**As for you strictly Black Cat readers, I've been having an obsession with him lately and I just realized something. Four things actually:**

**We've never seen Train as a chibi (in action in the manga).**

**We've never seen Train in a dress ( I'm not mad about cross-dressers, but if its Train…"through ze door, through ze windo… Ah don' care!"—The Mask original, Jim Carrey**

**We have never seen Train shirtless (I'm a fanatic about shirtless dudes, 'specially guys like Kuro-sama!)**

**We've never seen Train with a serious love interest. Sure he's got Saya and trusts Kyoko and tells Rinslet everything because of her tears and treats lil' Princess as a sister and all that… but you can tell that he's not going to settle down anything soon…**

**Review please!**


	2. A Pound or Two

Chapter Two- A Pound or Two

The triad had captured their bounty speedily and effectively, and with a stroke of luck even, as their target happened to pass them out of sheer coincidence. Now at a Sweeper's bar, Train was ordering meals in his usual dramatic way and Sven was constantly restraining him. Quietly he allowed himself another cigarette and began to mumble a tale of woe half to himself and half to Eve, leaving the gluttonous Train out of the picture entirely.

"What we've got to concentrate on is getting the remaining thousands of our car paid for, the debts from last year and worst of all a place to sleep tonight…"

Eve's eyebrows raised and she tugged at her guardian's sleeve. "Huh?" Sven said drowsily, "what is it, Eve?"

"Tearju lives in this town," she said softly. "Remember she said that we could visit her at anytime?"

"I never remember things like that," Sven moaned.

"You never remember anything, full stop," Train teased with cheeks fat with food.

"Shut up!" Sven barked, "unlike some people I have to worry about more than an empty stomach!"

Train swallowed and his expression remained apathetic. "You mean like whether or not Eve's been texting to Leon?"

Sven paused, then turned to his ward who was completely absorbed in her conversation over the phone. "Have you?" he inquired softly.

"Not recently," she admitted.

Sven shrugged off the cattish grins Train was showing him. "Anyway, Eve, you were mentioning something about Tearju?"

"Someone's got a love interest," Train said in a sing-song voice across the table.

"Shut up over there!"

"Tearju lives here," Eve repeated patiently. "She had mentioned before that we were always welcome in her home. To cut down on living expenses, we could ask her if we could spend the night at her house."

"That's a good idea," Sven agreed.

"Yeah, you'd agree to anything that lil' Princess says."

"That's because she's more mature than _some._"

Train frowned at him. "What did you say about me?"

"I didn't mention your name once."

And Eve continued to text.

Tearju welcomed them warmly, and Sven and Train warily glanced over her shoulder towards the kitchen. "Erm, Tearju," Heartnet mumbled pointing. She looked over her shoulder and dashed into the kitchen. Inviting themselves in, Sven smirked lightly making his way towards the kitchen. "Same as always," he muttered. "I'm going to help her out with supper, alright? You two play nice."

"Don't share any icing n the kitchen, Sven," Train called.

Blushing, Sven grumbled, "I don't even _want to know _what he meant by that."

Train grinned after the older sweeper, hands in pockets. Eve let herself fall onto the couch and her eyes remained on the screen. Train's shadow hovered over her. "You'll get a headache if you stare at the screen too long, Princess."

Now that he mentioned it she noticed that her head did feel a bit light, but she didn't want to admit that, least of all to her rival.

"Stop spouting nonsense, Train," she said softly, her brow twitching.

Train sighed, turning away from her. "Why is it that no one believes a word I say?"

"Because," Eve began, "despite your keen perception, you tend to be very absent minded and distracted, and take almost everything for granted."

He beamed at her compliment, but felt three insults stab his back almost simultaneously. "You've really got a way with words, Princess."

"L.M.F.A.O.," she said tonelessly.

Rubbing his head with a sigh, he walked off.

He reappeared after supper was on the table. Tearju looked slightly embarrassed, but Sven was beaming with pride. Once Train reached a hand out to the baked veal at the centre of the dining table, Sven whacked his knuckles with a wooden spoon.

"Yee-ouch!" Train yelped, holding his hand tenderly. "What was that for, Sven?"

"We don't eat until everyone is seated!" he hissed, a furious tiger rising in the background behind him. "Where's Eve?"

"How should I know?"

"I left her with you!"

"Alright!" Train stood up, huffed and walked off, hands in pockets. "I'll go look for her."

Tearju fumbled with her sleeves for a moment before speaking up, "I'm sorry you had to cook again, Sven. I'm really…"

"Don't worry about it," Sven smiled. "I like cooking, and all you have to remember is the stuff I told you. You pretty much know the basics already."

She nodded then seated herself, looking at the doorway where Train had disappeared. "Pardon me asking, but what's the relationship between Train and Eve?"

Sven didn't respond immediately, but looked at Tearju with a shadowed solemn face. "Why, did you notice something?"

"No, nothing at all," she stuttered nervously, and then continued on a more serious note, "I was just curious. Eve should be about fourteen now, shouldn't her hormones be kicking in?"

Sven thought for a moment, "The only teenage activity I've seen her take part in is excessive texting. Literally, she's on it all day. I'm skeptical whether she takes it into the shower with her."

Tearju chuckled slightly at this and Sven smiled in return, seating himself. "But I don't really know what she talks about. I'm aware that she's in constant contact with sweepers that we've met in the past and Rinslet and Kyoko, but her expression gives nothing away so you would have to ask her directly."

"Ask Train," Tearju said, closing her eyes and smiling to herself knowingly.

Sven frowned at her. "Train? Why Train? The most he'd notice is that she cut her hair, and that was last year!"

Again Tearju chuckled. "Just ask him," she insisted, and Sven shrugged. "Oh, and Sven?" she asked childishly.

"Hmm?"

"Were you serious about the 'everyone eating together'? To be honest, I'm ravenous."

"So am I—it's just that Train could eat for all of us a thousand times over. Let's eat!"

"Ikadesimasu!"

Train patrolled the hallways stubbornly. "Yeash, this place is a mansion," he paused, "I mean, besides the obvious fact it is a mansion. You could look for Eve for days and not find her. Princess!"

"What do you want, Train?" an irritated voice growled to his right. Eve was leaning over the sink with fingers streaming through damp hair and the other hand holding something small. Her eyes looked shadowed and her entire attitude irritable, and Train hesitated telling her why he was looking for her before she frowned at him.

"Sven finished cooking dinner. He sent me to look for you."

"Oh," she said softly, looking down into the sink. "I'm not hungry. I'm going straight to bed."

Train walked up to the bathroom's doorway and said in a serious tone, "Don't starve yourself, Princess, there's enough for everyone."

"I'm not starving myself, I'm full," she snapped. "Go away, you're annoying me."

Train grinned all of the sudden, tucking one hand into his pocket as he leaned against the white door frame. "Ah? You've got a headache, haven't you?" he teased.

"No I haven't!"

"Then why are you holding pain killers in your hand?"

She reluctantly opened her palm to reveal two small white tablets. Train smiled as she pushed past him. "Go eat your dinner, already."

She paused and turned quickly, glaring at Train's back. He blindly waved to her with his backhand. "See you in the morning, Princess."

Eve didn't respond. She could have sworn she felt fingers brush against the back of her neck…

**You know how everyone tends to say some witty comment and then ask people to review? Or sometimes they tell a story about what happened to the person who didn't review? Or sometimes they just say a little something about what they were thinking when they wrote a particular chapter before politely demanding for a review?**

**Well I am none of the above. You know what I'm going to say, whether it be a death threat or blackmail or just scare you into reviewing, but I won't. I won't because I have already brought across the point that I want you to review.**

**P.S.- If you read this note, that means you're looking for me to say 'please review'. Well you're an idiot, because I'm not going to say that! Ha!**

**I'm sorry, I'm sorry… don't take offense…T.T.**


	3. A few inches? Euphism!

Chapter Three- A few Inches? Euphuism!

Eve blinked rapidly. The sunlight that streamed through the closed curtains hit her face with no mercy and she sat up in bed at once, her posture faltering slightly into a crumbled heap beneath the sheets. She felt heavier, somehow, a bit bigger suddenly. She pushed the thought away and sat up in bed. Hadn't the windows been taller when she fell asleep? She stood and experimentally looked around. Was the bed always so low? Did the carpet always seem so flat? What had happened to her borrowed room overnight? Or worse yet, what had happened to her?

Panic stricken, she ran out the room and dashed down the hall to the bathroom, which she reached in several strides less than she remembered. She appeared before the mirror and saw… herself.

Yet this wasn't her. It was her face, yes, but Tearju and Eve shared the same countenance, and she would have assumed that this was her "mother" rather than her if it hadn't been for the irregular pigment of her eyes. Eve looked like an adult version of herself.

Train was lying on his back idly on the roof, looking at the reflection of his cattish eyes in the ebony exterior of _Hades_. He jumped out of his skin when he heard a frantic scream and instantly recognized it as… who was it? Tearju? He found himself inside in a flash.

He passed the still drowsy Sven in two strides, and glanced into the bathroom where he had talked to Eve last night. He blinked. He recognized her instantly as Eve, which surprised him. Every inch of this woman was mature and petite, yet held a stance that was very unlike Tearju's erect but mildly insecure pose. The second most immediate thing he noticed was that the black dress was _way _too small for her cleavage and hips. He frowned, looking past that. "Uh, Eve?"

She looked at him. "Am I in some sort of dimension created by Doctor again? Or am I hallucinating? I don't enjoy this dream!"

Her voice was definitely Eve's—despite her confliction, some note of nonchalance was in there somewhere, and so far that he knew, her mental maturity hadn't changed. Sven stepped in line next to Train a heartbeat later.

"Eve?" he thought it over, "Tearju?"

Eve shook her head. "It's Eve." She stood more strongly know as though she accepted the fact that she had grown up overnight.

"What's the matter?" a new voice asked stifling a yawn and Tearju stepped up in her pajamas, glasses crooked on her face. "Did something happen to Eve?"

"Take a look for yourself," Sven said, stepping back.

It was better than looking into the mirror. They were carbon copies—that was literal—of each other, and the men present were confused for a split second.

"How is this..." Eve stopped abruptly when a button on her dress above her chest popped and she frantically held the pieces of fabric together. Train and Sven instantly turned their backs, obviously flustered.

Tearju sighed. "I'm sure it's nothing serious," she said. "Come on, Eve, I'll lend you some of my clothes and then we can investigate your condition."

Eve wasted no time following Tearju out of the bathroom, and quietly stepped past her blindsided guardians. Train frowned slightly; there was an unfamiliar scent about, but once Tearju and Eve left, it was gone.

"Did you…" he trailed off.

"Huh?" Sven looked to him, "what's the problem, Train?"

Train thought better of it. "Nothing, I hope," he muttered.

In a borrowed black shirt and jeans, Eve was soon hooked up to several wires leading from her to Tearju's computer. The light from the screen reflected on her spectacles, and Train idly thought for a moment that she appeared sinister before she looked up at her three visitors and her blue eyes appeared kind and at ease. "It's nothing serious," she said in a sigh.

Sven, leaning against the wall closest to Eve spoke up first, "Then what happened to her?"

Tearju stood up. "Call it… a puberty for nanomachines. Remember what I mentioned to you yesterday, Sven?"

Sven nodded briefly and Eve and Train looked at him quizzically.

"Eve, you've read about puberty, right?"

"Yes," Eve nodded, "it is a stage during adolescence for the body to prepare for adulthood and though for everyone it is basically the same, there tend to be subtle differences."

"Right," Tearju nodded. "Naturally, since you have nanomachines, your puberty is bound to be the first of its kind. What's happened to you now is that there are catalyzing inside of your body due to an increase in hormones. There might have been something to stimulate the transformation to what it is now, say some sort of drug or maybe even something as simple as soda, but regardless the nanomachines have reacted like this."

"Hey, Princess," Train called, "didn't you take some pain killers yesterday?"

She nodded.

"That must have done it," Tearju said. "Anyway, I suggest that you don't try any transformations in this form, Eve. It's risky, with your nanomachines in its current frenzy state. I also suggest that you keep away from texting until this wears off. We would want to minimize risks of irritation: we don't know how the body will react."

"But I promised that I'd text Kevin today," Eve protested.

"Princess has a boyfriend," Train teased.

"Over my dead body," Sven muttered gruffly.

"Kevin, as a sweeper, tends to be a reliable source of information," Eve snapped at them both. "True he tends to be a better listener than _most_,"—at this she glared between the two of them,-"but at least his information comes from solid origins that can be traced to a good source."

There was silence for a moment.

"That retort was too swift for me," Train said.

Sven snorted, "You've underestimated Eve again."

"I have a question though," Eve said disconnecting the wires from her body and standing beside Tearju. "How old do you think I'm estimated as?"

"Definitely over nineteen," Sven responded.

Train raised his hand enthusiastically. "I know, I know! Twenty three!"

"I think she's about my age," Tearju said, "it would make sense if her nanomachines formed into something through recognition."

Eve smiled, "That makes me twenty seven… that means…" she turned to the wielder of _Hades_. "I'm Train's superior."

Train jumped, ready to protest. "That doesn't count! I was an adult before you were even born!"

"Although regardless," Sven said as he stepped away from the wall, "Eve always was more mature than Train."

"If that's the case, then Eve was always Train's superior, isn't that so?" Lunatique responded.

"Hey, don't agree with her!" Train wailed.

Eve smiled to herself. She always wanted a little brother.


	4. At Least I'm Taller

Chapter Four- At Least I'm Taller

"Onee-chan?"

Train stared up—he was seated on the ground by the lake outside of Tearju's mansion when Eve had walked up to him, arms crossed and eyes demanding—to her, his expression disbelieving. He wanted to laugh, but Eve's glare was deathly. He cleared his throat carefully, tugging at the red band on his neck as he looked over the lake.

"You want me to call you Onee-chan?" he repeated, searching for his laughter that was lost in the depths of his stomach due to her relentless stare that he still felt on his back.

"That's right," she confirmed, her mature voice now distinctly womanish and added to her overall maturity. Train indeed felt like the younger brother all of the sudden. "Or Onee-sama if you prefer…"

"Not even in hell!" he barked suddenly turning to her, and her disapproving glare added with a sharp risen golden eyebrow cut his retort short. He backed down, shrinking beneath her even more.

"Then Onee-chan it is, understand?"

"Yes ma'am," he managed his head in his hands, "but only until you change back to normal, okay?"

"That's agreeable," she considered, turning away from him. Train suddenly felt this heavy load lift off of his shoulders. _When had lil' Princess become such an extortionist?_

He blinked cautiously when she sat beside him and smiled as though she expected something from him. He sighed and slouched, rubbing his forehead and trying to hide his face flushed with embarrassment. "Oh-neh-chan," he growled through gritting teeth.

"That didn't sound nice at all," Eve said immediately, her eyes growing icy yet again.

"Give me a break!" Train squealed, "I've never had any older siblings, so the term is next to foreign to me!"

She shrugged, "I've never had a younger sibling either but I can willingly call you Train-chan," she said smoothly.

Train froze. Eve cornered him, and for some reason despite how insulting it was to have "chan" as an honorable, he didn't mind it as long as it was Eve: this older version anyway. He rubbed his forehead into his palm again. "Hai, Onee-chan," he mumbled.

"That was better," she sounded content, just like an older sister with a sibling-complex. He easily assumed until Eve turned back to her usual form—which he prayed was soon, this Eve was so manipulative it was insane—he would be her centre of attention as the baby brother. He shuddered. What cruel fate awaited him?

"Oh, so you found him, Eve," Sven's voice suddenly kicked in behind him.

"And so the single-parent-family-trio is complete," Train muttered beneath his breath.

A heeled shoe drove its way into his spine and he yelped, gritting his teeth.

"Sorry about that, my reflexes just _kicked in _before I noticed it was you." Sven muttered devilishly.

"You knew darn well it was me!" Train yelled at him, half kneeled in the banks of the lake. "And who the hell did you think it was?" he muttered.

"Could you not bully Train-chan?" Eve requested from her adopted father so politely—still manipulative, Train noted.

"Train-_chan_?" Sven asked, his eyebrows rising.

"That's right," she nodded. "He's my little brother."

"Ah, so I suppose we're going to play tea party afterwards, eh Train- chan?"

"Shut up, Sven- daddy," his voice's growl enhanced by the almost stagnant water.

"Don't call me—!"

"That's right, we'll play house later," Eve interrupted. "You'll join us?" she asked Sven.

Train jumped up in shock, "You were serious about that?"

She turned to him, feigning hurt almost as perfectly as Rinslet had she been crying. "Does that mean you don't want to, Train- chan?"

Regardless had she been crying or not, it had the same affect on the brown haired sweeper and he stuttered, trying to find a gentle response to turn her down, but failed and bowed his head in defeat. Eve smiled deeply and Sven glanced at her in half fear. _Is this was the future Eve would be like? Amazing: I had no idea she had potential to be an extortionist._

Train's gaze looked past the two of them all of the sudden and the other two turned to follow his gaze, where they saw Tearju with a basket in hand and a wide brimmed white ladies' hat on her head. Her hair was loose, as Eve's always was. They seemed to have a habit to let their hair hang.

"Are you going somewhere, Tearju- san?" Eve asked the triad's thoughts.

"I'm hesitant to, but my supplies are running low," she admitted. "If everyone wants to eat tonight…"

"I want to eat!" Obviously Train's outburst.

"We know that _you_ want to!" Sven yelled at him.

"Does that mean you're leaving? Couldn't Train-chan and I shop for you?" Eve asked.

"Train-chan?" Tearju inquired.

"Don't ask," Train muttered and gestured to her left hand with a nod. "That's the list?"

"Um, yes, but there are special places to go to and persons you have to ask for…"

"Just tell me," Eve said with a smile, "I will remember."

"Seriously, she will," Train reassured from behind as he examined the list. "She's kind of scary that way."

"Who's kind of what?" Eve asked him in a threatening voice.

He cowered. "Onee-chan is the perfect onee-chan…?" he tried.

_I'm ashamed of you, Train, _Sven thought bitterly.

"Maybe while we're in town we could buy some books, right Train-chan?"

The two of them were now walking down the road casually, summer air hot and blowing over their heads, and the local village half a mile away. Train blew out a sigh, "Taking in consideration the rate at which you go through books, I'd say it would be more economic to steal the book, read it overnight and replace it the next day."

There was a tangible silence after that and Train fearfully glanced at Eve. "Uh, lil'—I mean, Princess?"

Suddenly he felt a hand grab his ear he froze. "…!"

"Stealing is wrong, Train-chan," she said softly, tonelessly. "I'm disappointed in you."

"Yes, I get it… stealing is wrong, can you let me go now?"

She remained silent and looked ahead, still walking, but her grip was absolute.

"Please, Onee-chan?" Train asked, wincing.

She let go immediately. "And that was a warning," she said lightly.

_I'd rather not like to experience the actual punishment if that's the case, _Train thought carefully.

**Kuu Kuu Kuu…Ku Kulux Klan! Muahahahahahaha! Ps: "Ku" is like a Japanese mini version of saying "evil laugh". I guess that's where the Klan got their inspiration, huh?**

**Anyway, you like the adult Eve? I do: especially how she treat Train…delicious. Stay tuned and leave a tip in the currency of Words!**


	5. Allergic Attraction

Chapter Five- Allergic Attraction

Train sneezed.

"Cover your mouth, Train- chan," Eve scolded, pulling the basket full of fresh produce away from his reach warily. He sniffed, rubbing his nose in his sleeve.

"Sorry, Onee-chan," he muttered into the coarse fabric.

She turned away from him and looked down at the eggs and comparing them with the list given by Tearju. Train's skin prickled slightly as he stifled another sneeze. Where had this come from? Worse yet, it was the seventh time he sneezed since he walked into the town with… with…

"Atch-chooo!"

...eighth time he had sneezed since he entered the town with Eve. He kept returning to the possibility that it was nothing more than an allergy, and kept looking about for something out of the ordinary that might have been agitating his acute senses.

He rubbed his nose in his sleeve again and blinked absently when Eve weighed down his left shoulder with the basket. Holding it properly he watched her dig into her pockets while the street vendor watched them anxiously.

"You need change?" Train asked.

"Yes," she responded, not looking up. "Do you have?"

Before he could respond her hand already found its way into his pocket. He flinched, "Hey, Princess, that's equivalent to stealing!"

"Not really; I know you, you know that I'm in your pocket and you're willingly going to give me the remaining coins you have."

_You seem pretty sure on that last point, _Train thought sourly as she counted what she had found before fishing for more.

He was about to let loose another retort before she scented something and paused, glancing over Eve's back before…

"Acthc-hooo!"

Half an hour later, his cranium still throbbed from that unexpected rain of fists. At least they weren't metal: he was thankful for Eve's present state for that, and so far for that alone.

By now, both their hands were weighing down with stuff—Train was aware that they didn't only buy food, so he called it stuff—and Eve was still intently walking down the road, Train tailing her half heartedly.

"Princess," he moaned pleadingly, then paused and corrected, "Onee-chan, please, can't we go back to Tearju's now?"

"Just because you're satisfied with having your milk doesn't mean that I am," she said, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Who said I'm satisfied? I'm only satisfied when I'm _drinking _milk," he said at her back.

"We'll head to the mansion after we visit the bookstore."

_Ugh, more weight, _Train thought as he willingly let his face show agony. He sneezed again. Eve paused before him and he stopped in his tracks, wondering if he should turn and run from now. Sure, the sneeze didn't hit her, actually it was in his sleeve but technically he didn't cover his mouth like Eve asked him to and… he found himself making up excuses and pleads in his head, all of them repeating onee-sama, onee-sama, onee-sama…

"There it is," he heard her say.

_My soul leaving my body beforehand? _Train thought miserably.

"Train- chan," Princess yelled at him. "The bookstore is right here."

He sighed with relief and walked up to her, following her into the air conditioned room that reeked of crisp books, and Train hoped to find shelter from his allergies here.

"I won't take long, okay?" Eve promised before bouncing off somewhere. "Stay with our stuff!"

"Hai, hai, onee-chan," Train muttered under his breath, settling himself on the carpeted floor among the bags and bags of stuff and stuff… and milk. Cautiously he glanced around and pulled out a cool, slender glass bottle filled to the brim with the desired beverage, and licked his lips at the sight of it, remembering his dry throat.

"Excuse me, sir?" a disapproving voice said and he looked up at a smartly dressed young woman looking at him with a deep frown. "I'm afraid that no eating or drinking is allowed in the bookstore, and will have to ask you to place your bags at the counter at the front door, please."

Train sighed and hefted to bags to the indicated area, settling himself down in his lonely space, looking at the now pleased woman with an accusing stare.

"Thank you for co-operating, sir," she said with a smile and then walked off.

"That's one reason why I don't like bookstores," he muttered under his breath and leaned back against the wall, unsettling the shelf and sending books flying from who knows where crashing down onto his head, shoulder and in his lap. "That's reason number two," he muttered unpleasantly.

Slowly, under the scrutinizing stare of the _same _woman from before, he began to pack back the books which, other than most others in the store, were older and coated in thin layers of dust.

"Don't you ever clean these things?" Train asked the woman who stood with her arms folded at the foot of the ladder which he was standing on.

"That's not my department, sir," she said easily, tucking a clearly brown strand of hair behind her ear.

He turned back to his current task, childishly mouthing her latest statement to his satisfaction. Finally finished, he and the employee exchanged glares before she walked off and he—very carefully this time—settled down against the shelf and blew out a sigh. At least he was safe from sneezing in here: even among the dusty tomes he had been breathing evenly.

And then…

"Atch-chooo!"

He rubbed his face in his sleeve harshly, resulting in his face becoming flushed. This was ridiculous! Either he was developing a cold, or something was following him. As he braced himself for the next series of diaphragm mishap, he caught a glimpse of golden blonde hair by the bookcase to his left, and assumed it to be Eve, scanning through what was available.

Eve wasn't there all the time, so he sneezed when she was there. Alright, that made sense.

What?

He got to his feet quietly and peeked around the bookshelf, glancing at her, and holding his nose. Experimentally, he breathed in and choked down a suspected reaction, resulting in a cough. He was allergic to Eve?

Or at least something that rubbed off on Eve.

Or Eve in her current state.

He paused. He'd never thought of it before. The only thing that had changed was Eve became _physically _older, as Tearju said, a result in the release of hormones. But then that doesn't explain why he was…

There was a loud crack in the book store and everyone jumped at the abrupt break of silence. Eve winced when a female voice cried out: "Sir! If you break it, you buy it!"

"Train," she hissed, walking to where she had left him. Sure enough, one of the bookshelves were broken and—Lord only knows why—Train's head was bleeding on it, most likely from ramming his head into the firm wood.

"I'm sorry," Eve said to the fuming woman, the same woman who had dealt with Train thrice before, who turned to her with a look of question. "He's my little brother. I'll take responsibility."

She nodded but frowned, obviously wondering how they could be siblings when not one molecule of them looked like they were related. "We'll have to speak to the manager," she continued. "He just went out for lunch, but if we go now, we might catch him."

"Alright, I'll come with you," Eve glared at Train, who hadn't moved. "Train-chan, don't move a muscle. You should be exactly like that by the time I get back."

"Yes, Onee-chan," he mumbled, his voice shaky.

The two women left the room and Train released his breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He tentatively rubbed his bruised forehead, and smiled awkwardly at the realization that drove him to a state of shock to injure himself.

Eve, his _still 'little' _Princess—still little because despite all the metamorphism by the magic of nanotechnology she was still only fourteen—their lil' princess was in the…

A scream outside knocked him back into reality. He jumped to his feet and through the door, he assessed the situation swiftly. The woman who he dubbed 'Irritation in Human Form' was being shielded by Eve, who stood her ground before three burly looking gang members who held threatening weapons in their hands.

Eve was aware that she was defenseless, but she refused to be rendered helpless either. "Leave us alone, we have no business with you."

"You say that like you know what we want," one of them responded, looking at both of them greedily. Eve bit her lip, getting the message.

Unfortunately, so did Train.

The first one to speak was the first one to get knocked to the ground as Train spared no mercy unleashing a powerful kick across the back of the man's head. He fell to the ground in a dizzying spiral, his wooden club cracked beneath Train's shoe. He glared at the startled men remaining, feline characteristics more than evident; it was dominating. His eyes were still, yet he stared both of them down at once. "Get lost," he growled, kicking their comrade to their feet.

In a flurry of movement they were gone, and the only evidence of the previous scene was a splintered club and droplets of blood drying fast on the concrete.

"That was so cool," the woman behind Eve said with awe twinkling over-enthusiastically in her voice. Eve held her tongue as she let her guard drop. She stared at Train who in turn stared at the ground, and something was flashing through his eyes as he was deep in thought.

The next few minute were a blur to him. Eve was granted several free books and chose three of Train's behalf, knowingly choosing for herself, and he noticed that the manager had arrived to hear the whole story. Naturally there was some sort of praise for that, and the issue with the broken shelf was forgotten. But it all fell on deaf ears as Train still stared at the ground, his brain failing to compute the conclusion he had come to: Eve was in heat.

He only registered that he was moving when he noticed that his shadow was bobbing up and down in front of him. He looked up, then over his shoulder at the town where the sun was setting behind it. He hardly felt the weight in his hands, but wondered who he had ended up holding the bags anyway.

"Train, are you going to speak at anytime soon?" Eve asked worriedly. "You haven't said anything in over an hour."

He shook his head, then grinned as his personality reappeared like magic. "It's nothing, Princess, just thinking to myself."

"For a whole hour?" she asked, disbelieving.

"Is that unusual?" he asked, tempting her to continue.

"For you, for that long, most definitely," she responded.

He turned away from her, suppressing a sneeze. "Really, Princess, your retorts are too swift for me."

She stopped walking and stepped in front of him, laying the groceries at their feet. He avoided eye contact. "What's the matter, Onee-chan?"

"Did something happen while you fought off those people today?" she asked him, trying to best to fish the truth out of him. "Did you remember a painful past or something of the sort? You know you can tell onee-chan about it."

He scoffed, chuckling slightly. "Yeah, I know." He paused, "It's nothing, Princess, really."

He tried to step past her but she cut in front of him and he froze when her scent hit him. "You really don't trust me, do you?" she accused him.

"Princess, it's not…"

"You think just because I'm a kid I can't help you? How can I anyway when you won't allow me to know what you're thinking?"

"Princess," Train said seriously.

"I can't understand unless…"

"Princess!" he yelled, pinning her against a nearby tree. Eve didn't retaliate, but grimaced at his strong grip on her shoulders.

"Honestly, I'm not keeping anything from you just because you're a kid!" he lowered his voice as he chuckled somewhat grimly. "Right now that's the last thing I see you as."

He felt her tense when his forehead pressed against the bark directly above her shoulder. Her scent was intoxicating, though imaging this woman in from of him as Eve was enough to keep him from going further.

"Train, what are you…?"

"Just wait a sec, Princess," he asked.

Eve immediately noticed that he stopped calling her onee-chan. It seemed obvious enough that he didn't see her as a bigger sister anymore, and his current behavior was making her wonder what he was thinking. A suppressed shiver ran down her back when his hair grazed her neck, and his free hand closed her in, clawing at the tree's trunk as though he were forcing himself to suppress something.

All at once he eased up and Eve was standing on her own two feet, Train smiled at her as though nothing happened. "We'd better get to Tearju's before the sun comes down, huh?"

The totally perplexed Eve only blinked. "W-wait," she muttered. Something was missing.

"What?" Train looked over his shoulder and dropped the bags he was holding when Eve pulled him to her level into a kiss.

**Huahahahaha! I am evil, eeeeeeevaaaaaaiiill to end this chapter here! While I was typing the evil laugh there I said, "Mua… ha ha… ha…I need to put an extra 'ha'." So then, altogether now: Muahahahaha!**


	6. A Lot of Questions difficul to Answer

Chapter Six- A Lot of Questions that are Difficult to Answer…

Eve wasn't sure how Train would react when she stepped away from him. It just _seemed_ to be _correct_, the method she used, and half of what she did was on impulse. He was stared at her, and she felt herself warm under his bewildered gaze. "I'm sorry if that offended you, I simply…" she found herself in Train's arms and unable to respond when he kissed her back and then he laughed over her shoulder. "Offended? Princess, you've got a lot to learn."

She smiled awkwardly in his hold. And she admitted to herself that it was an odd situation: two people twelve years apart kissing in the midst of their groceries was rather unusual, from her point of view. But when Train kissed her again, she remembered that everything about the life she knew was unusual.

Train stopped to catch his breath. The sky was streaked impressively crimson by now, and the street lights were starting to turn on. And just when he thought that it was a bit too cliché, a bit too romantic, he noticed that the hand that was on his shoulder was no on his sleeve, his hand that was on Eve's waist was now on her shoulder, and, to put it mildly, Eve shrunk back to her original self.

Before either one could comment, they picked up groceries and walked along the sidewalk.

"Why are some of the eggs broken?" Tearju inquired from the kitchen.

Eve, reverted to her normal child form to the relief of Sven who sat beside her, looked up in thought. "Oh, Train, couldn't that be from the time when you and I…"

Train gestured for her to stop, but she continued, oblivious to his sign language, and as a result of her response to Tearju's question, she ended up with a whole lot to answer, especially from Sven.

"And where are you going?" The father figure demanded from the fidgeting Train who was starting to inch away.

Tearju laughed when she came into the room. "At least you have a name for him now, don't you Sven?"

He frowned. "What?"

She mouthed the words and Train read them, suddenly yelling, "Lolicon? You are not serious! I didn't mean it, honest! Eve, tell Sven- daddy what happened, huh?"

"Don't talk to Eve while you're on probation, Lolicon," Sven said easily.

"Don't call me…! Probation?"

And while Sven dragged Train off to his room, Eve texted with her face as indifferent as ever.

"Train, I've got a question for you," Sven said seriously once they were out of ear-shot from Tearju and her younger clone.

Train stood to his feet, eyeing his partner while bracing himself. "Listen.." he started.

"No, it doesn't have to do with what happened between you and Eve," he said between gritted teeth. "But it does have to do with Eve: what does she say when she texting?"

Train blinked. "What do you mean?"

"What does Eve talk about when she's talking to Leon or Kevin or…"

Tran smiled cattishly, "Oh, I see, you worried about Eve's love interest aren't you?"

Sven froze, his eyes growing dark. "Is that what she talks about?"

"N-no," Train stuttered from Sven's suddenly ominous aura. "Though that's what Kyoko and Rinslet are always pestering her about. Half the time she's just strengthening links with old friends and establishing new ones through room chats and stuff like that. She might not look it, but she's actually very sociable."

Sven nodded and smile faintly.

"Why'd you ask me, anyway? Couldn't you just have gone to Eve yourself?"

Sven walked past him. "I was just fulfilling a request," he stated simply, then paused. "And Lolicon, don't bother trying to make a move on Eve."

"Shut up, Sven-daddy," Train said irritably. "Do you know how late that statement it?"

Regardless, Train remained on probation and was locked in his room with no supper. He lay on his borrowed bed with his head hanging down to the floor, feet propped up on the wall, eyes closed and his hands clasped over his stomach that groaned loudly. "You don't have to tell me twice," he barked at his organ. "Of course you're hungry. We both are! Now shut up!"

His eyes opened when there was a knock on his door. "Train?" it sounded like Eve.

"You're going to get in trouble with old man Sven, Princess," he called, closing his eyes.

"I know, so you should be quiet and eat the food I got you."

The door opened instantly. Warm and on a tray, Eve had brought dinner for him, and most likely had to steal it away from the table.

"Thanks, Princess!" he wasted no time and sat down in the door frame, eating giddily. Eve sat with her back braced against the wall.

"Train, I have a question," she said softly.

"Yeah, everyone seems to have one of those today."

"What?"

"It's nothing, continue," he brushed off easily.

"Why did you look at me differently when I was older than how I am now?"

Train remained silent and sober for a moment, and Eve looked at him to ensure that he wasn't sleeping. "In what sense, Princess?" he asked.

"I don't know," she admitted, pulling her knees up to be wrapped by her sleeved arms. "Like when I'm Onee-chan,"—Train smirked at the title she gave her older self—"you stare at me, and when I'm just Eve, you hardly give me a second glance. It's like a contradiction of mild avarice and indifference respectively," she finished.

"Are you aware of half the words you say in a sentence, Princess?" Train asked carefully, his mouth full of food.

She glared at him, "I'm not an idiot, Train," she muttered, implying something.

"I never said you were, Princess," he responded as smoothly as he could.

He heard her shift as she asked, "Are you going to answer? Or just avoid my question with another question?"

_Shoot, she figured out my tactic, _he thought with alarm. _I really don't give her the credit she deserves._

Eve was startled when he sighed loudly and then looked down to find his plate empty: liked clean in fact.

"I don't know how to answer, in all honesty," Train told her. "I didn't even know that I did that."

Eve huddled to herself closer. "Oh," she said simply.

"But I've got a question for you," he said, quiet all of the sudden with a grin plastered ridiculously wide on his face. He gestured with his finger and she leaned toward him as he whispered in her ear. She smiled.

"You'll do it?" Train asked.

"Okay."

Train kissed her on her cheek. "Thanks, Princess, see you later."

The door gently shut and Eve stood, fingering her cheek, which oddly felt warm. She then turned away and walked down into the living room where Sven and Tearju were conversing with light air. They were laughing when Eve came in.

"Before I go to bed, I have a question for both of you to consider," she said, "Why was it that when Train and I arrived earlier today, most of the lights in the house were off, Tearju's spectacles were misplaced and Sven's suit was crinkled?"

They both tensed and flushed and Eve remained impassive. "Good night."

And she turned away with a smile on her face. Apparently everyone had an affair today.

**When I ended this I was like, "Hm, shouldn't there be more kinkiness in there? Especially in the Sven/Tearju department? But I was like, it's alright, you people get the point, and you'll express your views in the reviews, yes? Thank you!**


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